


A Second Chance

by lannisterslioness



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Car Accidents, Classic Cars, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Former Racer, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-06-09 11:08:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6903397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lannisterslioness/pseuds/lannisterslioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the young and cheery Rey is fascinated by the vintage Jaguar 150 S Roadster her mysterious neighbour owns, a man so far from the usual cliché of a Jaguar owner, that it makes her way too curious. Against all odds, they bound over their love for cars, speed races, and how they both know the name of every Formula ONE champion. And yet, he doesn’t drive anymore. A shock at first for her. ‘You have a Jaguar! Are you insane!?‘ Then, concern –he always wears long sleeves, doesn’t smile easily, never shaves, barely speaks… It becomes clear the day she spots a long scar at the base of his neck which seems to run down his back. A car accident during a race years ago. Since then, impossible for him to sat behind the wheel –his passion now synonym of night terrors. She decides to change that.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Based on the AU created by youffievalentine on tumblr!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So as some of you may have noticed I took a little break from writing, just a couple of days. Not only did I have some serious writer's block building up, but I was giving myself some time since my oldest dog was sadly put to sleep this past weekend. I was thinking of writing another chapter to one of my other fics or maybe even a one-shot, but I've seen this AU so many times on my dash and I love it so much, so I figured it was the perfect time to start it up! Hopefully you guys will like it!

    It had only been a year and yet everything felt different to Rey, a year away at university and coming home suddenly felt so strange and foreign. Not much had changed on the outside of the house, a new coat of paint, the garden seemed bigger and brighter as her mother had said it would be since Leia and Han had been working on it together, aside from that their fairly large and comfortable house was mostly unchanged. What was truly different about the neighborhood, or what Rey noticed while she was digging for her keys to the house out of her pockets since her parents were out grabbing things for dinner, was the large house that had been built across the street that hadn’t been there when she left for university. Her parents never mentioned getting a new neighbor, and she supposed it wasn’t that important technically, but it was hard to miss and it certainly had captured Rey’s curiosity. Rey finally unlocked the front door and disarmed the security system, only to be greeted by Chewy bounding towards her and barking and whining and wagging his tail out of excitement. 

 

    “Hi Chewy, I know, I know, it’s been awhile.” Rey laughed as she pet the big furry dog she missed so much while she was away. 

 

    She dragged her bags into the house, most of her other boxes were here already since her parents had helped gather her things from her dorm and bring them back home until university started up again in the fall. It was more than likely going to be her last summer home if all went well with finding a job and getting an apartment all her own, maybe a roommate if she really needed one, but her own apartment nonetheless. Rey found the note left on the table that her mother told her about, saying they’d be home soon, that Ben wouldn’t be visiting until next week, and if she felt up to it, Chewy could really go for a walk (which had clearly been written by her father since it was added on in his horrible handwriting). Rey dropped her bags over by the stairs and head into the kitchen with Chewy closely following her. 

 

    “Come on Chewy, wanna go for a walk?” Rey asked. 

 

    Chewy instantly broke out into a series of barks and wagging his tail furiously, more than excited to go outside for a while. Rey got his leash on him and as soon as she got him out the front door, he was practically walking her, dragging her out onto the sidewalks to explore the neighborhood that had certainly changed in her year away. What captured Rey’s attention the most however was not only the new house that had been built, but the Jaguar xk150 S Roadster that was in the driveway - just sitting there - all polished and cleaned in a beautiful dark green color with white walled tires that really made it stand out. 

 

    “Hell of a car, huh Chewy?” Rey mumbled as she stared at the car across the street, quickly looking away as soon as she saw someone walk outside. 

 

    It was a man who walked out of the house, he was scruffy looking with a beard growing in, dark curly hair, and wearing a sweater that was about two sizes too big for him, and was mumbling something to someone on his phone as he was walking out towards the Jaguar, was that the new neighbor her parents had gotten? Rey was trying to focus on giving Chewy his walk, but curiosity got the best of her as she walked Chewy over to the other side of the street. After another minute or so, she heard the man mumble something under his breath and hang up his phone, just staring at the parked car in front of him. 

 

    “It’s a nice car.” Rey piped up, finally working up the courage to acknowledge that she was there. 

 

    “Uh, thanks.” The man mumbled, fiddling with the keys to the car in his hand before looking up at her. “Hey, could you...could you do a favor for me?” 

 

    “...Sure, what is it?” Rey asked, walking over to him now and up his driveway, Chewy moving closer and trying to sniff him. 

 

    “I...well, I let one of my friends borrow this car yesterday and they brought it back last night, the garage wasn’t open...I was just wondering if you could pull it into the garage for me, I can open it up.” He kept hesitating, almost as if he knew what he was saying was a strange request - and it was - but Rey figured it was harmless, plus she could at least say that she’s been in the driver's seat of a Jaguar like this at least  _ once _ . 

 

    “Yeah, sure, as long as you don’t mind holding Chewy for a minute, I don’t think you want this big furball sitting in there.” Rey said with a friendly smile and handed over Chewy’s leash while the man handed her the keys to the car. 

 

     “Thanks, you can just pull it straight in.” He assured her as with a push of a button one of the garage doors opened up. 

 

    Rey got in the car, and while she wanted to take a minute to look over just how beautiful the car was, she fought that urge and started it up, pulling it slowly into the garage in front of her that revealed a much bigger garage than she expected. From the outside it was just two separate normal looking white garage doors, but once inside, Rey saw it was a whole other giant room that had been turned into a garage, filled with other collectible and classic cars, all equally as stunning as the Jaguar she was sitting in. Rey parked the car and cut the engine off, climbing out of it and accidentally bumping into the man who had walked up behind her with Chewy at his side. 

 

    “Sorry,” He mumbled right away, again not looking right at her and instead looking down at Chewy who seemed to take a liking to the stranger. “Thanks for doing this for me.” 

 

    “No problem.” Rey shrugged and handed him back the keys as he gave her back Chewy’s leash. “Anytime I get to sit in a car like that, it’s no problem at all.” She smirked. 

 

    “I’m Poe.” He blurted out, holding out his hand and looking up at her again, Rey finally noticing just how tired his dark brown eyes looked. 

 

    “Rey.” She answered with a smile and shook his hand. 

 

    “I’ve never seen you around here before.” Poe said now, clearly trying to strike up an actual conversation with her. 

 

    “My parents live across the street, I’m living back home for the summer until I have to go back to university.” Rey explained. 

 

    “Oh, okay. Well, uh, if you ever want to look at the other cars here you can come over anytime, I’m always here.” He offered a bit awkwardly. 

 

    “That’d be great.” Rey answered as Chewy barked and tugged on his leash a bit. “I have to go finish his walk, I’ll see you around?” 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe nodded and gave a faint smile as Rey walked out of the garage. 

 

* * *

  
  


    Dinner later that night made Rey feel as if she hadn’t been away from home at all, her mom still tried her best at cooking, her dad pretended to love it though a good portion of his dinner ended up on the floor for Chewy to eat though Rey had to admit that her mom had gotten a bit better at cooking. She didn’t realize just how much she had come to miss home until she was sitting there across the table from her parents again, listening to their stories. 

 

    “So, who’s the neighbor across the street?” Rey asked curiously as soon as a lull came into the conversation. All she knew was his name, but she was wondering if her parents knew more - especially her father who would die to see all those classic cars Poe has in his garage. 

 

    “We haven’t really seen him much, only when he moved in once the house was built, his name is Poe I think?” Leia announced. “Either way, he seems nice enough, I don’t think he really leaves his house much though, I barely see him.” 

 

    “I’ve seen his cars in the driveway more than I’ve seen him.” Han said, slipping Chewy another piece of his dinner under the table. “I’ve seen the guy maybe twice, seems like he lets his friends take the cars out instead of actually driving the things.” 

 

    “He had a Jaguar out there today, a nice one too.” Rey added. 

 

    “Oh, I’ve seen that one before, I think that one gets out the most.” Han’s eyes lit up just a little bit, as Rey expected, her and her father seemed to always share the same taste in cars. “Wouldn’t mind sitting behind the wheel of that thing just once.” 

 

    “Well, if you two are done drooling over that car, maybe one of you feels up to helping me clear off the table so I can bring dessert out here.” Leia interrupted with a smirk on her face, knowing that Rey and Han’s only other weakness aside from cars was dessert. 

 

    “I’ll help.” Rey and Han said at the same time. 

 

    “Good, the more the help, the quicker you two can dig into the cake.” Leia assured them. 

 

* * *

  
  


    It was the next morning, Rey promised her mother that she’d help her out in the garden today to plant some new flowers, and while Rey was waiting out there for her, a strange dog came bounding up towards her. It was a French Bulldog, black and white and not seeming to mind that Rey was a complete strange, he’d just run right up to her as if he knew her and jumped in Rey’s lap trying to lick her face. 

 

    “Where on Earth did you come from, little guy?” Rey asked with a laugh as she pulled the dog out of her lap and looked at his dog tags. 

 

    All the tags said was his strange name - Beebee-Ate - and they had a number on the back. Rey figured the little guy couldn’t have wandered off too far, and just as she scooped him up to take him inside and try to call the number on his dog tags, she heard someone calling out for the little dog in her grasp. She was almost surprised to see that it was Poe, the strange man with the Jaguar she met yesterday and was planning on visiting either later that day or tomorrow to see those classic cars he kept locked up in his garage. 

 

    “Looking for this guy?” Rey asked as she walked across the street, Beebee-Ate still trying to maneuver in her arms to try and lick her face.  

 

    “Yeah, thanks.” Poe said, looking relieved as soon as he spotted Beebee-Ate in her arms. “Sometimes I open up the door and he just bolts right out.” 

 

    “That’s alright, when Chewy was a puppy he did the same thing.” Rey remembered the many times she and Ben used to have to go running down the street to chase the little brown ball of fur down. “At least this little guy is friendly, Chewy would chase the neighbors cats and try to climb trees to get to squirrels.” 

 

    “Beebee-Ate is just a people person.” Poe assured her with a faint smile as he took Beebee-Ate from her grasp, and the little dog immediately started barking and whining, trying to get back to Rey. “He really seems to like you.” 

 

    “Yeah, he does.” Rey laughed and pet the dog to quiet and calm him, only for him to bark again once she pulled away. 

 

    “Are you busy doing anything right now?” Poe asked curiously. 

 

    “I’m helping my mom with the garden right now but maybe late I could come over?” Rey asked. 

 

    “Yeah, that’d be fine.” Poe gave her a slight nod. 

 

    “Alright, I’ll see you in a little bit.” Rey smiled and ran back across the street just as her mother walked out the front door, ready to start gardening. 

 

    “Getting to know the new neighbor?” Leia asked, and Rey could tell from the tone in her voice that she was suspicious of something already. 

 

    “Mom, his dog got out, I was just bringing his dog back.” Rey insisted. 

 

    “Mhmm.” Leia mumbled. 

 

    “I don’t like him, not like that, he just seems nice.” Rey assured her. 

 

    “Whatever you say.” Leia answered. “Just seems funny that you’d ask about him last night and then talk to him this morning.” 

 

    “It’s nothing, he has some nice cars and the dog got out, that’s it.” Rey replied again as sternly as she could. 

  
    “Alright.” Leia said, though Rey knew she wasn’t dropping it just yet. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So this chapter is a bit more interesting than the first, then again the first chapter was to set things up so the rest will be far more interesting from here :P I hope you guys like it, I'm really getting into this fic ;)

    For three days straight, Rey had gone over across the street nearly every afternoon. At first it was just to see the cars, and maybe play with the playful little pup that seemed to take a liking to her, and with each day she visited she noticed Poe talked a bit more and seemed more comfortable with her around. But now she was visiting just to see what he was doing, or she’d bring him something that Leia had made for dinner since she noticed he didn’t go out much and he seemed a bit on the unhealthy skinny side, or at least it seemed that way since he always managed to wear clothes that hung on him. It’d been about a week now into her summer off, and going over to see Poe had become part of her routine, this time bringing Chewy with her to help Beebee-Ate burn off some of that energy he always seemed to have. With the dogs settled in and playing well with one another, Rey and Poe ventured back out into his garage where she roamed around and looked at them all while Poe sat over against the wall, reading some magazine with a drink at his side. 

 

    “Have you driven all of these cars?” Rey asked to start up some conversation as she lingered over by the Jaguar again, easily her favorite out of all the cars. 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe answered simply, nodding his head and his eyes on whatever he was reading. 

 

    “Do you drive them anymore?” Rey asked. 

 

    “No, not really. I have my friend Jess take one of them out every once in a while, keep the motors running, she liked the Jaguar just like you.” He sighed. 

 

    “Why don’t you drive them? Keeping all these cars locked up in here, you might as well be caging up lions and tigers in here too, these cars are just dying to be driven.” Rey smiled, hoping to get a smile out of Poe, but she wasn’t surprised when his face remained the same. 

 

    “I just don’t have anywhere to take them I guess.” Poe shrugged again, taking a big sip of his drink before returning to reading. 

 

    “You could drive them to the beach, or around town, even around the block.” Rey suggested, but was only met with silence. “Or not.” She mumbled to herself. “You wanna go grab a drink later?” 

 

    “Aren’t you a little young to go drinking outside of keg parties at frat houses?” Poe asked curiously. “You said you just finished your first year of college.” 

 

    “I took a year off of school and traveled a bit with my older brother. When I came back I went to school which puts me right at twenty-one as of a few months ago, I’m perfectly able to go drink in a bar thank you very much.” Rey said with a slight grin. 

 

    “I don’t know.” Poe mumbled. 

 

    “Come on, you seem like you don’t get out much, might be a good chance to let of these cars rev their engines a bit.” Rey said. 

 

    “...I don’t know.” Poe hesitated, her was folding his arms close to his chest and suddenly seemed a bit nervous about the whole idea at the mention of the cars. 

 

    “Okay, how about I drive us then? I’ll be the designated driver.” Rey offered, Poe seeming to lighten up just a bit. “I think you’re due for a trip out of the house.” 

 

    “...Fine.” Poe finally relented, grabbing his drink and downing the whole thing. “I’ll go.” 

 

    “Good.” Rey smiled, making her way back towards Poe and taking a seat beside him. “You’ll thank me later once you’re actually having fun instead of sitting in this giant house alone.” 

 

    “I’m not alone.” Poe protested and reached for the bottle beneath his seat. “I’ve got my buddy Jack Daniels right here.” He smirked a bit as Rey rolled her eyes. 

 

    “I mean getting out and seeing real people and socializing with them, not with Jack.” Rey laughed and took the bottle from him, taking a small swig off of it herself before handing it back to Poe who was looking at her strangely now. “What? I won’t be drinking later, might as well enjoy some for the moment.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey wouldn’t say she got dressed up, she was just wearing a long-sleeved v-neck black shirt with dark jeans and her favorite boots. Of course she put makeup on, she always did before going out somewhere, but for some reason it was an instant indicator to her parents that she was going out “dressed up”. She didn’t tell them she was going out with their neighbor from across the street, she knew her mother wouldn’t mind but her father was a whole other story, so she figured it was best to just say she was meeting her friend Finn somewhere as opposed to the truth. Rey pulled her car up to Poe’s driveway and went to go knock on his door, she had to say she was surprised with what she saw on the other side of the door. Poe had cleaned himself up, more so than Rey had ever seen him, he was still wearing long sleeves as always, and he hadn’t shaved, but Rey had to admit that he actually looked good, dressed head to toe in black much like herself but with a leather jacket around him though he didn’t need it. 

 

    “Hey, ready to go?” Rey asked, if there was anything she had learned in the past week with Poe it was that he never dealt well with compliments, and she was trying to keep him from feeling uncomfortable tonight, as it was she was already getting him out of the house. 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe nodded quickly and locked up his front door behind him, following Rey back to her car. 

 

    Rey kept the ride slow, she noticed whenever she’d go even just the slightest bit over the speed limit that Poe would get a little uncomfortable; he’d start fidgeting and twisting the rings on his fingers until Rey slowed back down. She didn’t want to take him to one of the college bars she went to during the rest of the year, she knew he’d be more than uncomfortable being surrounded by people around her age, sometimes he seemed uncomfortable with just her - or maybe it was people in general - either way, she took him to the bar owned by one of her father’s friends, Maz, which was generally pretty quiet on Monday nights. 

 

    Poe ordered a drink right off the bat, clearly uncomfortable with the people that were in there which led Rey to believe that Poe was just uncomfortable around all people and had to drink to calm his nerves. Rey stuck to her sodas, just trying to keep Poe talking and focused on her and their conversation instead of on being in a foreign place. They sat and talked for a while, Rey even got Poe to laugh a few times and crack a smile, all was going well until two hours into their night when one of Rey’s classmates from her engineering courses walked up to her and Poe at the bar, which wouldn’t have been a big deal, if he didn’t know who Poe was. 

 

    “Hey, Rey.” The man said, Brandon, who Rey knew well enough through the classes. 

 

    “Hi Brandon.” Rey said with a friendly smile. “What are you doing out here?” 

 

    “My brother lives out here, just came down here to grab a drink and relax. Oh, shit, sorry, are you on a date or something?” Brandon glanced over at Poe and suddenly looked worried that he intruded on something. 

 

     “Oh, god, I’m sorry, this is my friend Poe.” Rey announced as she tried to get Poe to at least acknowledge that someone else was talking to them. 

 

    “Nice to meet you.” Brandon offered his hand out for a handshake. 

 

    “You too.” Poe said and gave his hand a brief shake before pulling away. 

 

    “Poe, wait, Poe Dameron?” Brandon asked, his face lighting up. 

 

    “You know him?” Rey asked curiously. 

 

    “Yeah, I mean he was one of the best racers in the world, this guy was phenomenal across seas. I heard you stopped racing after that big accident in Italy, that’s rough man, I’m sorry about that.” Brandon said. 

 

    “Stuff happens.” Poe mumbled and shrugged before taking a sip of his drink. 

 

    Rey looked over at Poe and noticed how stressed out he was now, his shoulders were tense and even his hand was shaking as he held the glass. Rey glanced over at Brandon who clearly got the message and politely took his leave. 

 

    “Uh, I gotta go, it was good to see you Rey.” Brandon said and walked off as Rey bid her goodbye before focusing on Poe again. 

 

    He didn’t tell her he was a racer, but that explained all the cars, all the racing photos in his house that she noticed. And the accident explained why he didn’t want to get behind the wheel anymore, why he was too nervous to go outside his own door because people would notice him, suddenly everything about the mysterious Poe Dameron wasn’t so mysterious anymore. 

 

    “I gotta go.” Poe mumbled as he drained his glass and hopped off the barstool, placing some money down and walking out the door. 

 

    “Poe!” Rey called after him while she paid for her drinks and ran after him. “Poe, please wait!” She grabbed his arm and Poe froze in place, just then Rey could see the faint hint of a scar on the back of his neck, peaking out from behind the collar of hi leather jacket and suddenly far more noticeable now that she knew what it was. “It makes sense now, why you don’t drive, why you don’t go anywhere, I get it. It must have been an awful accident.” 

 

    “I don’t even care about the damn accident anymore.” Poe sighed, turning around to face her as she dropped his hand. 

 

    “Then what is it?” Rey asked. 

 

    “I can’t stand the look people get in their eyes once they know who I am, once they remember the accident, that look of pity that you have in your eyes right now. I don’t want to be the poor racer who almost died and was too afraid to get back behind the wheel, I just want to forget about it.” Poe sighed. 

 

    “Alright, how about I forget it?” Rey asked. “I won’t bring it up, I promise, just please let me at least drive you back home.” 

 

    “...Okay.” Poe nodded as Rey led him back to the car. 

 

    The drive was silent, only the radio between them filling up the silence as they drove back to Poe’s house. Poe stayed in the car as soon as Rey pulled in the driveway, seeming to hesitate and torn between getting out and running back inside his home and staying out there with Rey. 

 

    “You don’t have to forget about it.” Poe finally mumbled. “I remember it every single night, I just...I don’t like thinking about it.” 

 

    “I don’t blame you.” Rey replied. “I wouldn’t want to remember something like that either...how bad was it?” 

 

    “Three car pile up, I was the last one in the crash, the other two died, I almost did too.” Poe was chewing on his bottom lip and fidgeting, he didn’t want to relive it but at the same time he wanted to get it over with so he never had to say it again. “They pulled me out right when the fires in my car were getting really bad. I was trapped in there pretty tight, metal all over the place, it left me with more than a few scars and burns but...I suppose I’m supposed to be glad I lived through it all, right? Thing is, the last time I remember being happy about anything was the day of the race before I got in that damn car.” 

 

    “It’s okay.” Rey assured him, reaching over and taking his hand and giving it a quick squeeze. “I get it now. I get why you don’t want to remember it, I’m sorry that happened to you.” 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe sighed. 

 

    “I’m not going to let you just sit there in that house for the rest of your life though.” Rey said with such certainty that Poe looked at her in shock. “You belong behind the wheel of a car, you clearly still love them, I mean you wouldn’t keep a garage of them if you hated them. I think you want to race again but you’ve been too afraid to since that accident.” 

 

    “I can’t-” 

 

    “You  _ can _ .” Rey insisted, looking him right in the eyes now. “You crashed, and you got lucky, but you still love racing I can tell, you wouldn’t have all of this stuff in your house if you didn’t. I want to get you back behind the wheel of a car, I want to help you do that. You can’t rot away in that house.” 

 

    “Rey...you don’t have to. I’m sure you have better things to do than that either way, it’s been six years.” Poe mumbled. 

 

    “It’s never too late.” Rey said. “And the only thing I plan on doing with the rest of my time is help you, because tonight I actually saw you smile, and laugh, you were... _ human _ . I want to see that Poe Dameron again, not the shadow of who he used to be, and something tells me the only way that Poe can come back is if I get you back in a car.” 

 

    Poe was quiet again, thinking things over and letting go of Rey’s hand, making her afraid that she overstepped her boundaries, but when he looked back at her, she felt confident again. 

 

    “Okay.” Poe nodded. “Okay, you can help, I can’t promise anything but if it makes you feel better, fine.” 

 

    Rey just smiled and laughed a bit before leaning over and pressing a kiss to Poe’s cheek without thinking much of it. She’d done it before with other people she cared about, and somehow she had come to care about Poe a lot in only a week, but the way he looked at her so softly after she did so, it made her heart skip a beat and her cheeks flush before sitting back in her seat. 

 

    “Uh, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Rey asked a bit awkwardly. 

  
    “Yeah, sure.” Poe nodded, seeming to feel just as awkward now as he climbed out of the car. Once he was at the door he waved Rey goodnight before she got her car back in her driveway, sitting in there a few extra minutes not only to think about how to get Poe back behind the wheel, but why she was thinking about him so much now. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Things slowly start to change a bit in this chapter, because Rey is finally starting to have a bit of an effect on Poe, and as you can imagine, things will slowly start to change a bit more between these two ;) I'm really gonna try and take my time with this one and have it more as a slow burn, but of course I'll probably slip some flirting in there because I can't help myself :P

    Rey knew there were many things that needed to happen before getting Poe back behind the wheel of a car, and she knew that a lot of them were going to have to require a lot of time and a lot of her patience. The first thing she wanted to work on with him didn’t even require him having to go anywhere near a car; she just wanted him to be less...skeletal. Rey knew from the moment that she met him that he clearly didn’t eat enough, probably barely at all, and from the looks of everything around him it certainly wasn’t because of a lack of money, he was just depressed, and according to him, he was also a terrible cook - even Beebee-Ate would turn his nose up to Poe’s cooking. 

 

    So, despite the growing looks from her parents, and the questioning glare from her brother since he finally returned home, Rey went over to his house everyday and started showing Poe how to cook. Tonight, Poe said that he wasn’t feeling all that great, so Rey showed him how to make the chicken noodle soup that her mother had taught her to make for whenever she didn’t feel good. He seemed to be watching everything intently, Rey even surprised to see that he was helping with what he could, still avoiding knives and anything really sharp as if they were grenades waiting to go off. 

 

    When they were sitting on the sofa, eating their finished dinner, Rey couldn’t help but notice that after two days already of making sure he actually eat something, he already looked a lot better. It made Rey have hope that she just might actually be helping Poe, at least a little bit, and that was good enough for now. 

 

    “So, what should we make tomorrow?” Rey asked him. 

 

    “How are you with a grill? I have one in the backyard by the pool that I’ve never used yet.” Poe said nonchalantly, more focused on the food he was devouring in between words. 

 

    “Yeah, I can grill something - wait, you have a pool?” Rey asked, processing what he just said. 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe nodded. 

 

    “How come I didn’t know that?” Rey asked again. 

 

    “Well, you’ve never been in the backyard for one, you’re usually drooling over the cars in the garage.” Poe said with a slight smirk. “Here.” He grabbed a remote off the coffee table in front of him, aimed it out the back sliding doors, and right before Rey’s eyes, and entire pool and the in-ground lights around it lit up and revealed itself. 

 

    “Please tell me you’ve at least swam in that damn giant pool.” Rey insisted. 

 

    “Yes, I’ve swam in the pool.” Poe assured her. 

 

    “Alright, tell you what, I’ll make you whatever you want on the grill, but we have to go swimming tomorrow.” Rey said, it had been ages since she went swimming, it had been ages since she’d been near the beach for that matter too - college brought her further inland and her parents had a pool once, but after they got Chewy, between his almost drowning incident and deciding to use the pool as his own litterbox, the pool got sealed up after both Ben and Rey moved out, their parents sighting they were close enough to the beach anyway and didn’t need to worry about a pool. 

 

    “You can swim in it whenever you want.” Poe told her, avoiding what she said. 

 

    “You don’t want to swim with me?” Rey asked. 

 

    “It’s just...you know…” Poe gestured towards his sweater and the hint of the bigger scar at the base of his neck, and Rey realized that he didn’t want to go swimming with her and show off all his scars. 

 

    “Then wear a t-shirt.” Rey shrugged. “If it makes you comfortable, go ahead, but not too comfortable, we’re trying to get you out of your comfort zone a bit, remember?” 

 

    “Yeah, I know.” Poe sighed. “Alright, we’ll go swimming tomorrow, it’s supposed to be hot anyway.” 

 

    “It’s summer in California, it’s always hot.” Rey said. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey didn’t question her choice of swimsuit, a dark blue bikini she’d worn hundreds of times before and was one of her favorites, though she did make sure to wear her dark blue cover-up dress before heading over to Poe’s since she wasn’t exactly that comfortable in it before going in the water. She made her way across the street and rang the doorbell, only to be greeted a few minutes later by the sight of Poe in swim shorts and a t-shirt...but wearing his leather jacket as well. 

 

    “Uh, interesting choice.” Rey said right away as he let her into the house. “You’re not...swimming with the jacket on too, are you?” 

 

    “No, I just, uh, have some scars there and...you know.” Poe quietly explained and Rey shook her head in understanding. 

 

    “That’s okay.” Rey assured him. “Just double checking, I’m pretty sure leather doesn’t work well in water.” She smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek, again without thinking much of it, only to find herself lingering in his personal space a bit longer than she should have before taking a few steps away. “So, what are we making today?” She asked quickly, dropping her bag that had her cell phone and a change of clothes in it on the sofa in the living room. 

 

    “I figured burgers would be fine.” Poe shrugged. 

 

    “Okay, I know you have the pasta but I brought over some cheese because I’m going to make you my famous mac and cheese to go with those burgers.” Rey smiled. “No knives involved, so you can really help me with this one.” 

 

    “Alright.” Poe cracked a bit of a smile. 

 

    “But first, and I thought of this early this morning...I think the beard has to go.” Rey stated as she set the block of melting cheese over on the table and walked back over to him. “It’s starting to take a life of it’s own and I want to see what you look like underneath that thing.” 

 

    “I don’t-” 

 

    “Just point me to your shaving stuff and I’m taking that thing off of you myself, you just have to sit there and close your eyes if that helps.” Rey assured him by taking his hand and giving it a slight squeeze. “It won’t hurt, I promise, when I was little I had this strange fascination with shaving my dad’s beard, he’d have me help when it got too long and my mom complained about it.” Rey smirked. “I promise you won’t feel a thing.” 

 

    “...Alright.” Poe said cautiously. “Upstairs bathroom.” He mumbled. 

 

    Rey led him up his stairs and Poe guided her into his bathroom. Rey dragged a chair in there for Poe to sit in later, but first she had him right up at the sink and tried to cut a majority of the wild beard off of his face. When she had most of it gone he already looked like a different person, and he was hiding a pretty handsome face under that grizzly beard. 

 

    “There, half of it’s gone already.” Rey smiled at him. “Now go ahead and sit and I’m getting the rest of this thing off of you.” 

 

    Poe didn’t resist this time, just sitting down without a word and closing his eyes before she tilted his head back a bit and started shaving the rest of his beard off. She noticed him squint and hesitate when she got under his chin, and she could see some faint silver scars that explained why. Rey made sure to go slowly under his chin and to place her hands on him a bit more so he knew that it was a person there, not metal trying to cut him open. The extra skin contact seemed to quite him a bit, him moving a bit less which helped greatly, and within fifteen minutes, Rey was wiping off his face and revealing a completely different man from the one she’d come to know the past few weeks. 

 

    “Wow.” Rey blurted out. “Whole new person under there.” 

 

    Poe got up from the chair and looked in the mirror, he seemed to be in as much shock as Rey was, seeing his face again for the first time in who knows how long. 

 

    “You look like you.” Rey smiled, resting her hand on his shoulder and looking at him in the mirror as well. 

 

    “Thanks.” Poe finally said with the hint of a smile on his face. 

 

    “No problem.” Rey assured him. “So, you wanna go for a swim first or do you wanna make something to eat?” 

 

    “Let’s go swimming.” Poe said. “I haven’t been in there in a while. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey got in the pool first, stripping out of her dress and slowly getting into the perfectly warm water, her muscles instantly relaxing. She was in there for a while, Poe sitting on the edge of the pool in his t-shirt now, the jacket long gone, and his legs in the water, watching Rey enjoy herself swimming all over the place. 

 

    “Come on, you’re missing it!” Rey called out from the other end of the pool. “It’s wonderful in here.” 

 

    Rey swam over and tugged on one of Poe’s legs a bit, grinning all the while and actually getting a smile out of him. 

 

    “Alright, alright.” Poe sighed before sliding of the edge and finally getting in the pool, swimming around a bit with Rey before just lying on his back and enjoying floating around. 

 

    “See, isn’t that nice?” Rey asked, swimming up next to him. 

 

    “It is.” Poe admitted. 

 

    “You’re sinking a bit in the middle, mind if I help?” Rey asked. 

 

    “Sure.” Poe didn’t seem to mind much. 

 

    Rey gently placed her hands on Poe’s lower back and helped raise him up a bit, he only stiffened when one of Rey’s hands accidentally got under his shirt. Rey didn’t even realize it until he seemed a bit uncomfortable. 

 

    “It’s fine, I can’t see them.” Rey told him, absentmindedly starting to trace the scars she felt. 

 

    The scar on his lower back went up some ways, she assumed all the way up his spine from the way it was going though she stopped midway up his back. She felt some other patches of his skin that were a bit rough, she assumed this was what was left of the burns he’d gotten from the fire in the crash. After she had gone over just about every scar and burn on his lower back, she pulled her hand away and Poe stopped floating, facing her now and looking at her like she was about to go run away screaming. 

 

    “I don’t know why you hide them, they’re a symbol that you survived something.” Rey told him. 

 

    “Because usually whenever anyone sees them, they either look at me with such sadness and pity, or they try not to look at me thinking I’m some kind of horrible deformed monster.” Poe explained. 

 

    “You’re a survivor, not a monster.” Rey said. 

 

    “That’s because you haven’t seen them yet.” Poe insisted. 

 

    “I’m not scared of them, you shouldn’t be either.” Rey said. 

 

    Poe swam over to the steps of the pool and sat on one of the higher steps, pulling one of his arms up out of the water, and when he turned it a bit Rey saw the beginnings of a long and nasty scar, still red though it clearly had healed over the years. Rey sat on the steps beside him and traced the scar up until she hit his wet shirt sleeve. 

 

    “It’s not scary.” Rey assured him. 

 

    To that, Poe didn’t seem to have anything else to say and just let Rey keep tracing the scarred lines. 

 

    “You hungry?” Rey asked. 

 

    “Yeah.” Poe answered quietly. 

 

    “I’m gonna go get dried off, you should too unless you’re gonna swim more.” Rey said. 

 

    “No, I’m gonna dry off too. You wanna shower off?” Poe asked. “You can go in before me, I’ll show you the guest bathroom.” 

 

    “Sure.” Rey nodded and climbed out of the water. “I brought stuff to change into.” 

 

    Poe was right behind her, though she caught him stop and stare for a moment, he didn’t seem to realize she was wearing a bikini before, but now he was staring at her a bit slack-jawed. He quickly tore his gaze away when he saw her looking back at him, his cheeks starting to flush a bit though he tried to pretend that he hadn’t seen her. Rey just smiled a bit to herself before walking away towards the house, waiting for Poe to catch up and show her the guest bathroom. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey was downstairs, her hair still a bit damp from the shower, and she was working on starting the mac and cheese when Poe had made his way downstairs and into the kitchen. Much to Rey’s surprise, he wasn’t wearing his usual long sleeved and turtle necked sweater; instead he was wearing another t-shirt and a pair of jeans. She still couldn’t get over how different Poe looked without the beard taking over half of his face, and now there he was dressed differently for once, not even wearing a jacket. 

 

    “I think you’re warming up to me a bit.” Rey smiled. “It’s nice to see you out of the sweaters, especially since it’s ninety outside.” 

 

    “Honestly, some of them were a bit itchy.” Poe smirked. 

 

    “Alright, well, care to help me with this dinner, speed racer? It’s not gonna make itself.” Rey said. 

  
    “Sure.” Poe agreed right away and walked over to Rey’s side. “Where do you want me to start?” 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have other fics to catch up on writing, and I know this one was updated not that long ago, but I'm glad I decided to work on this one because once I just sat down to write it everything just fell into place. I hope you guys like this chapter, I especially had fun with the ending to give it a little glimpse of later on... ;)

    Things has been going smoothly for Rey, two weeks had come and gone, and with each passing day she saw Poe open up to her just a little bit more. Today started no differently from the rest of her days so far, she had made plans with Poe to go out for a drive today - she was driving of course - but it was progress nonetheless. She had taught Poe to make more than just cereal for breakfast, so she head over there a bit late to check on him, and was excited to get Poe out and about again. Only when Rey knocked on the door and rang the doorbell, Poe didn’t come to the door; she could hear Beebee-Ate barking on the other side of the door, but she heard no other signs of life from the other side of the door which made her anxious. She kept knocking, kept yelling his name, but Poe never came to the door, and that’s when Rey grabbed the hidden key to his house that he told her about and barged inside the house. 

 

    “POE!” Rey screamed now, her anxiety full blown, especially being greeted with the sight of his house still completely in the dark - all the blinds shut and lights off. 

 

    Beebee-Ate was happily wagging his short little tail and barking up at Rey, she scooped him up to calm him down and continue her search through the house. 

 

    “Poe! Where are you?” Rey called out, hearing the dull murmur of the living room television now and rushing in there, placing Beebee-Ate back down once she saw Poe on the couch. 

 

    Her heart stopped for a moment when she saw him, he was lying on the couch, and if she hadn’t seen the rise and fall of his chest, she would have thought he was dead from how he looked. Ey ran over to his side, kneeling in front of him and trying to shake him awake but to no avail, when she noticed all the empty bottles and dirty glasses of liquor around him, she knew he would be out for a while, though she didn’t fully know why until she heard the announcer on the television. 

 

_ “And today marks the five year anniversary of the crash that occurred in Monte Carlo, the horrible tragedy left two dead and one racer - Poe Dameron - nearly paralyzed after being pulled from the wreckage before his vehicle was consumed by flames. Though Dameron was fortunate enough to make a full recovery, the great racer never returned to the sport afterwards.”  _ The announcer said and continued on though Rey stopped listening after she pieced it all together; it had been five years since Poe crashed and it still haunted him enough for him to drink himself into oblivion. 

 

    “Poe, please wake up.” Rey sighed, running her hands through his dark and tangled locks of hair, and smiling when she saw his eyes start to flutter open a bit. “Hey.” She said softly. 

 

    “Mmm.” Was all Poe mumbled in response, closing his eyes again. 

 

    “Poe, don’t go back to sleep, please?” Rey asked, his eyes opening a bit again upon her request. His eyes were red rimmed and bloodshot, he had probably been like this for a while, but Rey was still happy just to see him looking at her. “How long have you been at all of this?” 

 

    “Mmm, since...last night.” Poe mumbled, yawning in the process and grabbing ahold of one of Rey’s hands, just holding it for no other reason and Rey let him though he normally wasn’t this affectionate. 

 

    “Why didn’t you call me? I would have come over to be with you.” Rey assured him, giving his hand a squeeze. 

 

    “It was late.” Poe groaned. 

 

    “Mhmm, well, can I at least get you in your bed? I’d feel better if you were in bed instead of asleep here.” Rey sighed. 

 

    “Mmkay.” Poe mumbled. 

 

   “Come on.” Rey stood up, still holding his hand, and grabbed his hand with her other hand to help try and get him up. 

 

    It took a few minutes, but Poe eventually sat up, groaning, and Rey helped him get up to his feet the rest of the way. She guided him upstairs and got him tucked in bed in his room, as soon as he hit the pillow he passed out, snoring lightly and Rey smiling down at him, pressing a kiss to his forehead. Beebee-Ate followed her around downstairs as she went to work cleaning up Poe’s mess; turning off the TV, throwing out the bottles, cleaning the glasses, and opening up his blinds. It took a few hours, but she had his house back to normal, and when Rey was done, she went upstairs to check on Poe, finding him still asleep, and after all the work she had done she couldn’t help but curl up beside him, wanting to be there when he finally woke up. In a matter of minutes after Beebee-Ate settled himself by Rey’s feet at the end of the bed, Rey fell asleep to the sound of Poe’s breathing and trying to trace more of the scars on the backs of his arms. 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Poe didn’t know what time it was, hell, he wasn’t even entirely sure of what day it was at the moment, since the last thing he remembered was realizing that it was the five year anniversary of his accident. He knew he drank -  _ a lot _ \- but he was sure when he did so he was on the couch downstairs in the middle of the night; now he was upstairs in his room, it was daytime, and when he rolled over his arm hit a body beside him, a sleeping Rey who only grumbled and rolled over when he pulled away from her. Rey was here? He didn’t remember her showing up, and he certainly didn’t remember her getting into bed beside him though he was relieved to see they were both fully dressed. 

 

    “Rey?” Poe’s voice was groggy, but he reached out and shook her awake, Rey rolling back over and looking up at him. 

 

    “Hey.” Rey grinned. 

 

    “When...how? I don’t remember anything.” Poe grumbled. 

 

    “You were downstairs and passed out when I got here, I got you up to bed and when I finished up things downstairs I just came up here and sort of took a nap.” Rey explained simply. “I saw the news on your TV when I got here, you could have just called me.” 

 

    “It was the middle of the night when I realized it.” Poe sighed. 

 

    “Do you do this every year?” Rey questioned. 

 

    “Well, I didn’t the first two years, mostly because I was either hospitalized or in physical therapy, but yeah, every year since.” Poe stated. 

 

    “You can call me whenever you know.” Rey said. 

 

    “I know I just...I deal with this in my own way.” Poe snapped a bit, and he felt horrible when he saw Rey recoil away from him at the sudden harshness in his voice, but he couldn’t help it - she just didn’t understand what he dealt with in his head because of the accident. 

 

    “Okay.” Rey answered quietly, sitting up in the bed now and avoiding looking right at him. 

 

    “I’m sorry.” Poe said. “It’s just a bad day for me.” 

 

    “I get it.” Rey nodded, still looking a bit meek, though she did look him in the eyes again now. “Do you want me to go?” 

 

    “No...I just want to go back to sleep.” Poe sighed. 

 

    “I’ll go.” Rey got up from the bed, Beebee-Ate finally budging and watching Rey closely. “You’ve still got stuff downstairs from last night if you get hungry, if you need me call me.” Rey stated. 

 

    “Rey-” 

 

    “Just get some sleep, okay? I’m not mad, just worried.” Rey assured him. “Night, Poe.” 

 

    And with that she left, and Poe had never felt more horrible in his life than when he watched Rey walk away. 

 

* * *

 

  
  


    It was almost afternoon, and Poe hadn’t heard a word from Rey ever since he snapped at her last night, he was too afraid to call her, but he felt horrible without her around. He had his phone in his hand when he walked past one of the windows in the front of his house and saw Ret out there, lugging a kiddie pool into the front yard with her dog Chewy in toe - happily hopping into the pool once she put it down. She seemed happy enough, wearing a tank top and shorts while grabbing a nearby hose and starting to spray Chewy down, the dog sitting in the pool and happily enjoying the water on this hot summer day. He knew he had to talk to her, but his anxiety kicked in when he realized that to get to her and talk to her in person, he actually had to step out the front door; it was too hot to hide in his sweaters and jackets in the middle of the day or any time of day really anymore, but his red and deep scars that ran down the backs of his arms would be out in the open for anyone out there to ogle and whisper about. 

 

    He hesitated with his hand over the doorknob, his throat dry and hands a bit shaky, he wanted to talk to Rey desperately, and somehow after a few moments, he worked up enough nerve to just walk outside and try to keep focused on just getting to Rey. She was happily playing with Chewy with the hose when he finally got over to his, folding his arms close to his chest and keeping focused on her and Chewy only. 

 

    “Hey.” Rey smiled when she noticed him, Chewy barking up at him until he reached over and quickly pet the fog before folding his arms again. 

 

    “Hey.” Poe answered quietly, fidgeting and looking around seeing others outside - some gardening, some mowing the lawn, no one truly looking at him though he felt like he was being watched. 

 

    “Is everything okay?” Rey questioned, her smile shifting to worry as she noticed how much he was fidgeting. 

 

    “Yeah, I’m fine, I just want to apologize for yesterday and-” 

 

    “Poe, I’m not mad, I told you that.” Rey laughed a bit. “I know you were upset and I know you’re probably feeling even more uncomfortable with all the things I’ve been getting you to do. I don’t expect you to be okay overnight, had I know what yesterday was I would have just wanted to be with you and try to keep you calm.” Rey explained. “Do you wanna go inside?” She offered. 

 

    “No, you’re doing something out here.” Poe shook his head, hugging his arms a bit closer to his chest. 

 

    “I’m just playing with Chewy, he had a bath earlier but when it’s hot outside he likes to play in his pool.” Rey said. “My parents are out at their beach house for the next week and my brother went out to stay with his girlfriend for the weekend, you can come inside if you want.” She knew that meeting new people made him even more anxious, and but how anxious he was right now, he was more than grateful to hear that there was no one in her family around to gawk at the scars and question him about them. 

 

    “...Sure.” Poe said. 

 

   “Alright, let me just dry off Chewy a bit, you can go ahead in if you want, doors open.” She told him, walking up to the porch and grabbing a towel before heading back to Chewy who seemed to enjoy the towel just as much as he enjoyed the water. 

 

    Poe practically ran inside, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding until he crossed the threshold of the house and knew there were no strangers around. A few moments later, Chewy ran inside a few moments later, panting and heading over to his bed by the sofa, lying down and still managing to drink water from his bowl that was right beside him. 

 

    “You wanna watch a movie or something?” Rey asked as she walked inside.

 

     “Yeah, sure.” Poe stated. 

 

    “You can pick one out, we’ve got a bunch.” Rey pointed towards the entertainment center with the shelves full of movies. “I’m just gonna go shower, I smell like Chewy from his bath earlier.” 

  
  


* * *

  
  


    Rey had been upstairs for a bit when Poe decided to go check on her, he was still exhausted from yesterday and though he put the TV on to keep him awake while he waited for her, he was still falling asleep and needed to move around. He saw the bathroom door cracked open and some steam billowing out, telling him that she hadn’t been out long, and he didn’t know what compelled him to just open up the door, but he did and was greeted with a squeak of surprise as Rey quickly folded her arms over her bare chest while her cheeks turned bright pink. 

 

    “Oh, god, I’m sorry.” Poe immediately pulled the door shut and felt a bit embarrassed himself now, the image of Rey half naked and in some bright red and lacey underwear forever burned into his mind now. “I thought you would be almost done, I was falling asleep down there.” 

 

    “It’s okay.” Rey assured him from the other side of the door. “I’ll be down in a minute.” 

 

    Poe went back downstairs, sitting on the couch and still seeing Rey in his mind. He had to stop thinking about how much of her tanned and toned skin he just saw, or the flush of her cheeks, or the red underwear. She was young and optimistic - just trying to help and older and broken man be a little less broken, she didn’t deserve having someone like him think about her in certain ways. A few minutes later, Rey came downstairs in jeans and a t-shirt that was just a bit too big for her, and Poe just blurted out his apologies as soon as he saw her. 

 

    “I’m so sorry Rey-” 

 

    “Don’t worry about it.” Rey assured him. “You’ve been doing  too much apologizing today, it’s fine, it happens.” She shrugged. “Did you pick out a movie?” 

  
    “Yeah.” Poe handed her the movie off the table and just hoped that he could actually focus on the movie instead of what he had just seen. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, in all my worry to get a new chapter of Twin Suns done, I forgot that I actually already had a finished chapter of this fic sitting in my folders! Here it finally is! I can't remember if this chapter is long or short, it's probably somewhere in-between knowing me :D

    It had been a couple of days and Rey had sworn that there was something off about Poe. He was more nervous and jumpy than usual, Rey had kept a close eye on him in case it was something similar to the anniversary incident, and aside from not being able to make eye contact with her - he was fine. She didn't know if it was something she said or something she did that caused Poe to act this way, but she wanted to fix it. Rey had never been shy about anything in her life, nervous yes, but she often had her mother's bluntness. 

 

    “Did I do something wrong?” Rey blurted out while they were in the middle of lunch one day, sitting out by the pool and BB-8 asleep by Rey's feet. 

 

    “What do you mean?” Poe asked confused, still not looking at Rey directly. 

 

    “That, you're refusing to look at me, did I do something wrong?” She asked again. 

 

    “What? No, no, you didn't.” Poe quickly stated. 

 

    “Then why won't you look at me?” Rey asked curiously. 

 

     “It's…it's complicated.” Poe sighed. 

 

    “What do you mean?” Rey questioned. 

 

    “I...you didn't do anything wrong, it's just that I, uh, I have a hard time looking right at you since...you know, a couple of days ago, at your house.” Poe explained, his cheeks a bit red and suddenly he looked more than uncomfortable. 

 

    It took Rey a moment to think of what he was talking about, and suddenly it struck her - the bathroom incident. She didn't think anything of it, things happened, but here Poe was, sitting across the table completely uncomfortable and refusing to look at her. 

 

    “That's what has you like this?” Rey asked with a bit of a smirk. “Poe, don’t worry about it.” 

 

    Poe looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead held it back and bit his tongue, getting up from his seat and gathering up their plates from lunch before silently taking them inside. Now Rey was sure that she had done something wrong judging from the way he’d just gotten up and went in the house. Rey got up, disturbing the sleeping BB-8 as she did so, and spotted Poe in the kitchen, washing their dishes. 

 

    “Wanna go for a ride?” Rey offered, she knew it might take his mind off of whatever was still clearly bothering him. 

 

    “No, I think...I’m just gonna go crash. I was up late last night.” Poe stated, not glancing over at her and not stopping what he was doing - Poe was a terrible liar. 

 

    “It’s not even two in the afternoon, you’ll be up in the middle of the night.” Rey replied. 

 

    “I’ll be fine.” Poe sighed. 

 

    Clearly not getting the answers she wanted out of him, Rey walked over into the kitchen and shut off the sink, hoping to get his full attention now. 

 

    “Would you please just talk? Clearly I did something wrong somewhere along the line here, I don’t know what I did because you refuse to tell me what it is, and I find it hard to believe that just walking in on me in the bathroom a few days ago was what is really bugging you. I just want you to tell me what the hell-” 

 

    Before Rey could even process what was happening, in one swift motion, Poe dropped what he was doing, wrapped his arms around her waist, and kissed her. Rey reacted quickly, wrapping her arms around his neck and allowing him to deepen the kiss, though she still wasn’t able to fully comprehend that she was actually kissing Poe. Sure, she had thought he was attractive on more than one occasion, especially during a couple of sleepless nights since she’d known him, but Rey never thought that she’d genuinely get to kiss him unless they were both completely drunk or she’d dared him to do it when she felt brave. It never crossed her mind that Poe would perhaps be the one to make a move, or make an outright bold attempt to kiss her, but then again there was a lot about Poe that Rey still didn’t know yet. Maybe this impulsive side of him was more of who he was before the accident, before he became afraid of really living anymore; or maybe it was just something that she brought out in him - she wasn’t really sure, and right now she didn’t really care. 

 

    Rey was just about breathless when they finally parted from their surprise kiss, their eyes locked on each other, and the two both resisting to truly act on their lust filled urges. They slowly started to pull away from each other, Rey’s head was still swimming with what had just happened. 

 

    “Uh...probably should have given you some warning for that, huh?” Poe questioned, and Rey couldn’t help but smile. 

 

    “No, I don’t mind surprises.” Rey assured him. “So...is that what had you acting weird? You wanted to kiss me?” 

 

    “I wanted to work up the nerve to tell you that I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while, because it’s been a long damn time since anyone has ever really gotten me to smile, but, well, I guess I’ve always been more of a man of actions rather than words.” Poe admitted a bit sheepishly, the faint blush on his cheeks telling Rey that he was sincere in what he was saying, only making her smile more. 

 

    “Well, I certainly don’t mind that.” Rey giggled a bit. “But this isn’t all just because you saw me half-naked, is it?” 

 

    “What? No, no. I mean, I didn’t really help with the whole not being able to sleep thing the past couple of days.” Poe smirked. “But no, I’ve wanted to do that for a while.” 

 

    It was Rey’s turn to blush a bit now, and it didn’t help that Poe leaned in and stole a few more quick kisses from her, finding her blushing more than endearing. Before anything else could happen, Rey’s phone started buzzing in her back pocket, and she pulled away with a sigh to answer the call. 

 

    “Shit, it’s my brother, I forgot he was coming back today, he doesn’t have a key.” Rey quickly denied the call and shoved her phone back into her pocket. “I gotta go let him in the house, I’ll be back in a bit.” She hurriedly explained. 

  
    Before Poe could answer back, Rey was out the door and more than likely running across the street to let her brother into the house before he started calling her again. Poe had never met Ben face to face, but Rey had often talked about him in their spare time and Poe was able to piece together from her stories that usually whatever Ben deemed as good or okay, Rey thought the same, she looked up to him and it made sense since he was her older brother. Poe knew that getting on Ben’s good side would be something he’d have to do eventually if he had any hopes of actually making something out of this little spark he had with Rey.

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the AU gifset that inspired this fic: http://senatorrorgana.tumblr.com/post/141980710792/youffievalentine-poe-x-rey-modern-au-where


End file.
